I hate the way that Homeland suffers from the Dexter problem of feeling compelled to reiterate everything we already know. When last week’s episod ended, we knew that Carrie was in Javati’s custody, and that Saul and his people had lost her. The first five-and-a-half minutes of this week’s episode — including the previously on, scenes — essentially repeated everything we already knew, and it led up to a lie detector test that wasn’t particularly necessary to the storyline, either. Carrie failed it, but Carrie didn’t give a sh*t anyway, because all she wanted to do was lure Javati out, and let him know that Saul would like a word with him.

Why doesn’t Javati just kill Carrie and run? Because Saul knows that Javati has been using a goalkeeper to embezzle money, which is a betrayal of Iran, and being second in command of Iran’s intelligence directorate, that would make him an ENEMY OF THE STATE.

After Carrie threatens to expose Javati, he agrees to meet with Saul. I mean, kind of. He’s just gotta make one little stop first.

But before we get there, Saul finally has a conversation with his wife about the man she is sleeping with. Her argument was basically this:

She’s smitten with her Mumbai lover, and Saul doesn’t seem to give a sh*t. He’s not angry because he doesn’t have a claim on her. Also, as much as I love Saul, unless his wife’s lover is secretly a spy charged with murdering Dana, I do not give two sh*t about this side-plot.

In an exchange between Saul and Fara Sherazi, we do learn some valuable information about Javati. He and Saul were once friends, both working in intelligence. After the Iranian revolution in 1979, Javati was supposed to help Saul get four people out of the country. Instead, Javati killed the four people, which was his ticket into the new Iranian regime. Saul got his revenge, though: He helped Javati’s wife and son escape to the West four months later.

In the meantime, in between the time that she met with Javati and the scheduled meet-up, Carrie goes home and takes another pregnancy test. It’s positive, JUST LIKE THE OTHER 30 PREGNANCY TESTS SHE’S TAKEN.

Ugh. Why is it necessary to throw a pregnancy — and thus, a relationship complication — into an espionage thriller? That’s annoying. The question is, whose is it? Is it the stair case bang?

Or is Brody the baby daddy? Considering it’s March now, and the bombing was on 12/12, if it is Brody’s, then Carrie is four months pregnant. Of course, that doesn’t make any damn sense because of all the drugs she’s been taking, and also, there’s no way a pregnancy would’ve escaped the attention of the medical folks at the mental institution, who assuredly did blood work on several occasions. So, either it’s Liquor Store Bang’s baby, or Homeland has thrown another huge plot hole into the works.

Dana Lazaro Is Still The Worst: What We Learned From This Week’s ‘Homeland’

The notion that the guy earned his way into the new regime by killing four people is garbage.
Also, the people back home hear about the murders, they’ll no something’s up. In short, the guy has started by making sure Saul doesn’t even have the option of leaving him in place as a double agent. Saul’s getting his sorry ass kicked so far.

Dana has always been written as a girl who hates her mother for interfering with her sex life. In the context of the story, this is absurd, but it’s much sexier. Well, it’s supposed to be.

The length of Carrie’s pregnancy can’t be determined by the number of pregnancy tests. She’s a flake quite capable of doing thirty tests in three days. Seems like a script to give her a self-righteous excuse to go off her meds, i.e., for the baby’s sake. The writers only think Carrie is interesting when she’s a martyr?

Again, plainly everybody goes to Caracas for the guy’s money so that he’ll at least give up old information. Carrie pulling Brody out of her pocket presumably is supposed to be a big twist.

Actually, the indifference of the CIA to who moved Brody’s car is simply astonishing, even given the low talent writing.

I’m not sure how actual humans deal with these situations, but if I had a 16-year-old daughter who said she wants to go off on her own (with a “friend” I’d never met before) with no job, no money, and only enough “stuff” to fill a backpack, I’d be more than a little curious about her plans. But then, my concept of the parent-child thing is a little outmoded. Please, please, please keep her off the show.

DANA DANA DANA – I figured it out – there was something fishy last night about Dana going off to live with ” a friend” . Really . . . .? who IS this fso called friend? there is more to it . . .the writers are going somewhere with the Dana arc. Yes – she is obnoxious – that’s the point. Morgan Saylor – obnoxious and NOT pretty as Dana – great acting. If she was my kid. . ..uhg

I liked this show a lot more when the terrorists at least seemed realistic and not cartoony bad guys.. then last year things got a little crazy with Al-Zwahiri kidnapping Carrie and holding her pretty much by himself, and now this. I knew as soon as he pulled up to the house from before that he had found his ex wife that Saul WAS JUST TALKING ABOUT. Not good.

Just when we almost had a decent episode, they throw in the Dana thing. What a waste of time. I like how the son, who is dealing with all the same issues as Dana got exactly one line, but several emotion faces. It was also funny that Dana “had to go” and never specified where. This show is frustrating because the things people do often make no logical sense.

I feel like this should have been like the second episode of the season because the storyline with the Iranian dude has some potential but there are just so many extraneous things going on (Dana, Saul’s wife, etc).

Man the worst thing about Dana is she never learns. And they tried to pretend she was going to learn to not make rash dumb choices by having her come back home and try to be a family again but nope.. I’m gonna live with my friend cause of… reasons?

Also I feel like her changing her name was just the writers being like “oh you hate Dana Brody, well that’s not her name anymore?”

Her being pregnant makes sense in that she’d be off her meds, and then throw then all away again instead of start taking them again… And why’d she be so upset about being forced to take the meds again in the hospital. I don’t know, she’s supposed to be bi-polar.

But it is really hard to believe they would have never done a tox screen on her and found her to be pregnant…

Dar Adal might be my favorite character right now. We have no idea whether he’s working with Saul, against Saul, or taking the “I’ve always been on the same side: my own!” point of view. And F. Murray Abraham is doing a great job in that role.